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Copyright Guidelines

Nothing is cut-and-dried about fair use within an educational setting. Infringement claims are decided on a case-by-case basis. The rules below are only guidelines. If you have any questions about fair use, please contact Mark Swails, copyright librarian.

Guidelines for Fair Use

Print

Chapter in a bookFair use (permission not required)

Single copy used by an instructor for research, teaching or class preparation

Multiple copies (one per student per class) if the chapter is brief, spontaneously copied and in compliance with the cumulative effect test (see below)

Copyright notice and attribution included

Newspaper/magazine article

Fair use (permission not required)

A complete work of less than 2,500 words

For longer articles, excerpts of up to 1,000 words or 10 percent of the work, whichever is less (a minimum of 500 words)

Articles covered in the previous two bullets may be expanded (e.g., the number of words increased) to permit the completion of an unfinished prose paragraph)

Copyright notice and attribution included

Poems

Fair use (permission not required)

Copies of the entire poem if it is less than 250 words and printed on no more than two pages

250 words of a longer poem

Articles covered in the previous two bullets may be expanded (e.g., the number of words increased) to permit the completion of an unfinished line of a poem)

5 poems by different poets from a collection

3 poems (or excerpts) per poet from the same collective work or periodical volume

Copyright notice and attribution included

A notation if alterations are made

Infringing Use - Not "Fair Use"

Multiple copies used semester after semester without permission

Multiple copies that create an anthology

Multiple copies intended to avoid the purchase of a textbook or other materials